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Jury selection is underway in the trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell. He's charged with killing seven babies and a patient at his West Philadelphia abortion clinic. NBC10's Daralene Jones has the story. (Published Tuesday, March 19, 2013)

Three women were chosen as jurors on Monday for the trial of a Philadelphia abortion provider charged with killing a patient and seven babies allegedly born alive.

Jury selection is expected to take a week, given the sensitivity of the abortion issue and the death penalty.

The three jurors chosen Monday said they support abortion rights and could judge the case fairly.

Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Minehart was quick to dismiss scores of potential jurors who said their religious or moral beliefs might color their view of the case.

Gosnell has pleaded not guilty, and insists that he helped many vulnerable women and teens get medical care, including later-stage abortions.

Pennsylvania abortion laws ban abortions after 24 weeks. Authorities believe at least some of the abortions performed at Gosnell's clinic involved third-trimester pregnancies. The 2011 grand jury report details one case in which Gosnell allegedly joked the baby was so big it could walk to the bus stop.

The nearly 300-page report described the clinic as filthy, blood-stained and macabre, with a collection of fetal body parts kept in jars.

In court Monday, Gosnell defied that crude image, appearing poised, elegantly dressed and oddly relaxed. He warmly greeted a local TV reporter by name, as he has done in the past.

Gosnell, the only child of a gas station operator and government clerk, had been a top student at the city's prestigious Central High School. He became an early proponent of abortion rights in the 1960s and `70s, and returned from a stint in New York City to open up a clinic in the impoverished Mantua neighborhood, near the working-class black neighborhood where he grew up.

His Women's Medical Center treated the poor, immigrants, teens and others without regard for their ability to pay, Gosnell has said.

"I feel in the long term I will be vindicated,'' Gosnell told the Philadelphia Daily News in a March 2010 interview.

Gosnell's third wife, Pearl, who has pleaded guilty to performing illegal abortions, and his adult children were not in court, although they had been last week when Gosnell apparently rejected efforts to negotiate a plea offer. A gag order prevents lawyers in the case from commenting, but Gosnell's lawyer was seen dashing between prosecutors and his client, who had been brought to court from jail.

Opening statements are set for March 14, and the trial could last six to eight weeks.

Former clinic employee Eileen O'Neill is also on trial, charged with practicing medicine without a license. Eight others have pleaded guilty to murder or lesser charges. Some are expected to testify against their former boss.